Christian culture are suckers for a reworked hymn and a banjo and as such they cannot get enough Sufjan. Between his spiritual allusions, mandolin
usage, meaningfulcore vibe and altbro stage costumes, it is their firm belief
that he is relevant Christianity personified.
22 comments:
I would counter this with two unassailable facts:
1) Sufjan Stevens is awesome;
2) and, not Christian Culture-y at all. In fact, every single even remotely Christian Culture-y person I've introduced Sufjan's music to has been like, "Meh. Pass me that Big Daddy Weave CD."
Altbro. Ha.
See I think you've forgotten Keith Green. But yes, the sooner we get rid of that broken and wrong 1960s folk crap, the better we will all be. lol
Pete
P.s. I can't stand Cat Stevens.
It's interesting how people seem to think I don't like Sufjan or even Keith Green. I just report the highly scientific facts, people.
Steph is a scientist.
Dave S
I think you nailed it, Steph...but I also suspect that you pulled punches.
Full disclosure: Suf is a friend, and I love his music. I assume you're criticizing CC, not Sufjan...
Have you seen the christian hipsters' embrace of the Welcome Wagon?
-S.O.
It's just interesting how so many people read the post, assumed that I don't like Sufjan's music and that I would be criticizing him personally. My scientific deduction from this would be that people are very protective of their Sufjan. (Christian culture is freaking out about Welcome Wagon and wants them to have their babies.)
Yet I expected His return to be as machine not man, especially not hipster.
I also dig the Sufjan and wonder how CC feels about the repeated phrase "I'm not fucking around" at the end of I Want To Be Well from The Age of Adz.
They reacted with an enormous amount of hurt and disappointment when one of their previous relevant-hero's, Pedro the Lion, started "dropping the F bomb."
My buddy's dad owned a Christian music store (The Lion and the Lamb) and had a fair number of irate customers returning records and promising to boycott the store.
Since we're talking about Pedro the Lion now I have to be self-promotional and direct you to the 3 hour interview Bazan and I did together here.
http://www.grapesofrad.com/2011/12/david-bazan-steph-drury-aka-the-super-mega-religion-show-part-1/
That three hour interview is what made me a dedicated listener to both Dongtini and The Grapes of Rad. I gained a lot from that interview and am currently reading The Sacredness of Questioning Everything by David Dark per your suggestion, I think.
Aww, why thank you Mr. Fox!
As a mandolin player myself, I know that everything is more spiritual when you add a mandolin!
Hey, I like Sufjan too, and I'm an agnostic.
Common ground, people. Common ground. :-)
This makes me feel further affirmed in my suspicions.
http://heychristiangirl.tumblr.com/post/25800408395
Here, we should be so lucky. Our Christian culture doesn't like music unless it's played on K-Love (or an ancient piano on Sunday mornings).
Bill bringing up K-Love reminded me of my own local Christian radio station - not that they call themselves that. Why is it that Christian radio stations always call themselves "positive hits" or something, like we're not going to notice that it's all Jesus music?
Also, I'm now addicted to Hey Christian Girl. Thanks, Stephy.
Ok. I just flipped through about 3 minutes of various youtubes of whats his face...
I don't get it.
Pink Floyd. The end.
Reuben
Christmas Unicorn? *blowing chunks*
Oops, accidentally anonymous. This is my true identity.
Sufjan is over. Mumford and Sons is the new Christian Hipster band to emulate. U2 is the perennial band to be emulated, Mumford and Sons is enjoying their 15 minutes.
This blog is so weird.
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